


Safe And Sound

by Teal_The_Baker



Series: Malec One Shots (Human AUs) [20]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Carnival, Confessions, First Meetings, Flirting, M/M, Malec Discord Server Fic Crawl 2021, Meet-Cute, Panic Attacks, Talk of past (almost) drowning, Talk of past kidnapping, meet-not-so-cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29856720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teal_The_Baker/pseuds/Teal_The_Baker
Summary: Human AU where Alec and Magnus meet when Alec helps Magnus through an unexpected panic attack.
Relationships: Magnus Bane & Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Malec One Shots (Human AUs) [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1784086
Comments: 44
Kudos: 104
Collections: Shadowhunters Fic Crawl 2021





	Safe And Sound

**Author's Note:**

> Submission for Malec Discord Server fic crawl on 13 March 2021.

Magnus had been laughing and taking pictures of his friends as they enjoyed the carnival ride he had opted out of. The fun abruptly ended though the moment Magnus heard the splash and turned toward it instinctively. He learned too late the mistake he’d made. A few meters away he caught sight of the tank filled with water with two arms sticking out the top.

The next thing Magnus knew, he was looking up to see a man in a uniform yelling down at him, only then realizing that he was crumpled in a ball on the ground. He covered his ears and looked back down to a singular spot, giving it his entire focus. Everything was too loud and too bright. He wanted to get away, but his arms and legs were now refusing to listen to his commands. He tried to think his way out, but his mind didn’t seem to want to listen either. He felt utterly trapped within his own body.

Magnus wasn’t sure how much time had passed before a hand came into his field of vision, palm down, moving slowly. He took his own hands away from his ears a few centimeters.

“Hi, my name is Alexander, but my friends call me Alec,” a soft voice explained. “You’re okay. No one is going to hurt you. Can you tell me your name?”

Magnus looked up to find kind eyes which perfectly matched the kind voice of the man kneeling in front of him. “Magnus,” he murmured between shallow breaths.

“Hi, Magnus,” the man, who he now knew as Alexander, smiled at him and it felt like maybe his lungs burned just a fraction less than they had been. “I need you to take some deeper breaths for me. Can you do that?” At that moment, Magnus heard another splash, winced, and clapped his hands back to his ears.

“Water,” Magnus whimpered, desperately trying to explain why he was in his current state and struggling so much.

With his hands still over his ears, he could just make out Alexander’s response. “I can get you some water soon. We really need you to normalize your breathing first though.”

Magnus shook his head in frustration and pointed toward the tank. “Breathing. Water.” His lungs burned. He hated this. His body was lying to his brain and trying to convince it that every breath he attempted was pulling water into his lungs.

“Oh, got it,” Alexander responded quickly. “I’ll go ask them to stop for a minute-”

Magnus shot his hand out and grabbed Alexander’s wrist. “Please don’t go.” Magnus thought he might drown if the man who was helping him stepped away from him for even a moment.

“I’m right here. I won’t go anywhere if you don’t want me to.” Magnus felt Alexander kneel back down next to him as if to prove his point. “But if they don’t stop, you might be stuck here for a while and I’m worried about your breathing. Can you walk?”

Magnus shook his head and let out a wet sob. “Drowning.” Why wouldn’t his limbs work? He knew this was irrational. He knew all he had to do was get away from the stupid dunk tank and he’d be fine, but it was like his brain and his body were refusing to talk to each other to sort their shit out.

“Magnus, I need to get you away from the dunk tank.” Even in the midst of his panic, Magnus could clearly hear the anxiety in this stranger’s voice. Apparently, he didn’t think Magnus was going to be able to pull himself out of this any time soon either. “Will you let me pick you up?”

Magnus nodded his head and felt strong arms lift him and pull him into a firm chest. He closed his eyes and focused on the smell of coconut, sugar, and musk as Alexander took him far enough that he couldn’t see or hear the tank any longer before setting him on a bench. He looked back into Alexander’s kind eyes and felt his hand being pulled away from his body and placed on Alexander’s chest as Alexander crouched down in front of him.

“Can you breathe with me?” Alexander took a deep breath in and then out in demonstration. Magnus nodded his head slowly and followed along with Alexander’s next breath and then the next. “You’re doing great, Magnus.” Alexander smiled at him again and this time Magnus gave a small smile in return. “Are you here with anyone?”

“Right now might not be the best time to hit on me, Alexander,” Magnus chuckled softly, finally able to get out a full sentence.

“What?” Alec sputtered. Did Magnus really think he was hitting on him right now just as he was coming out of a severe panic attack? “No, that’s not what I meant.” But Alec couldn’t help the warmth that spread through him at the thought and he was sure a ghastly shade of pink was now flushing his cheeks. Of course he couldn’t help but notice that Magnus was extremely attractive. And he had tried not to be distracted by the woody scent that emanated from the man when he had carried Magnus to their current location. “I just meant, is there anyone who is looking for you or who can help you-”

“-Magnus!” Catarina yelled as she, Ragnor, and Raphael ran up to them. “We saw you collapse, but couldn’t get off the ride, and then we were stuck behind so many people. Are you okay?”

Alec tried to back away from their close proximity, but Magnus quickly took hold of the shirt his hand was still pressed against, effectively keeping him in the spot. Alec arched his eyebrow at Magnus, silently asking the same question.

“I’m okay,” Magnus exhaled as his breathing was almost back to normal. “Just a minor panic attack. Alexander here was my knight in shining armor though.”

“We may need to discuss your definition of ‘minor’,” Alec protested quietly so only Magnus could hear. And then louder, “I’m just glad I could help.”

Magnus quirked his lips up and observed his guardian angel. “What do you say we discuss it over a funnel cake with extra whipped cream?”

More of Magnus’ personality seemed to be peeking through now and Alec smiled back at him. “I thought now wasn’t the time.”

“What can I say?” Magnus replied, lowering his voice. “I seem to have a quick recovery time.”

Alec raised his eyebrows and they heard a snort to their side, though neither turned their heads.

“Well, as much as I always love to watch the master flirter at work,” Ragnor teased. “He doesn’t seem to need our help after all. Let’s leave them to it and go find a few more rides.”

“So what about you?” Magnus continued, paying no mind to his friends as they walked away, but assuming the vibration coming from his phone was a new message from Catarina he could look at later. “Anybody here the other half of your rainbow?”

Alec blinked back, realizing he was still staring into Magnus’ eyes. “What?”

Magnus reached out his hand, cupping Alexander’s jaw in his palm, and rubbed his thumb across Alexander’s cheek. Maybe the contact was a bit forward, but after what they’d just been through together, he felt connected to Alexander.

“Oh, no,” Alec answered as he realized that Magnus was talking about the half rainbow painted on his face. “That’s just how the lady painted it.” But then his face was twisting into something more strained as he realized who was with him when he got the face painting. “Shit. Max.”

Magnus dropped his hand at the mention of another man’s name. “Oh?” He tried not to sound too disappointed.

“My brother,” Alec explained hastily as he pulled out his phone and moved to sit on the bench next to Magnus. “He and my sister went to go get Dippin’ Dots. I was waiting for them by the, um-” Alec trailed off, unsure if he should mention the offending booth that had caused their little meet-not-so-cute.

“The dunk tank?” Magnus provided. “It’s okay. Talking about it shouldn’t set me off. I’ve at least learned that much from enough therapy.” Magnus gave what he hoped to be a self-deprecating smile. Alexander seemed like a nice guy, and he really didn’t want to remind the man how broken he truly was. Magnus supposed it would probably be hard to forget at this point, seeing as it was how they met in the first place.

“Oh, okay, good,” Alec responded distractedly. He looked down at his phone to find a plethora of messages, all from his siblings. “Could you just give me a sec?” When Magnus nodded his head, Alec turned to face the other direction of the bench, looking out at the bright lights of the carnival.

“Hey Iz, I’m sorry-” Alec began before being cut off. “No, I’m not making out behind the Tilt-a-Whirl with the corn dog guy.” He dropped his voice to add, “That was one time in high school.” But apparently, he hadn’t lowered his voice quite enough because he definitely caught the snort that sounded behind him.

Magnus watched Alec peek over his shoulder to catch him unabashedly watching. Feeling pretty good about himself at this point, he shot Alec a wink before Alec jerked back to look in the other direction.

“Listen, Iz,” Alec continued. “No, would you please just be quiet for a minute? I needed to help someone. Can I just meet up with you guys in a little bit? I want to be sure he’s okay. Yes, you can have my ice cream. Okay, I’ll text you to meet back up.” Alec was about to hang up when Izzy stopped him for one more question. “What?” he asked dramatically as he looked at Magnus again and rolled his eyes. Why did she have to ask these kinds of things at the worst possible times? “Izzy, I’m not going to answer- Fine. Yes. Okay, bye.” Alec hung up before Izzy could say anything further.

Magnus was more than happy to watch that interaction unfold, especially as he saw the most gorgeous blush creep up to Alexander’s cheeks from his neck. He definitely wanted to know what caused that and how he could replicate it himself. “Hi,” Magnus purred.

Alec fiddled with the buttons on the side of his phone. “Hey. Sisters. Am I right?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Magnus replied offhandedly. “You know I’m going to ask you, right?” 

“Ask me?” Alec looked up at Magnus nervously. He wondered just how much of his conversation with Izzy Magnus had caught. “Ask me what?”

Magnus was struck by the change in the man, how he was crawling back into a shell, now that the crisis was over. Alexander had been so confident, so sure of himself only minutes before. Magnus briefly wondered if maybe he was prying too much too soon. But Alexander could always not answer if he truly did not want to, though Magnus hoped that wouldn’t be the case. Alexander intrigued him immensely.

“What your sister asked you at the end of that very enlightening phone call,” Magnus clarified. “I can’t help it that you didn’t make your call any further than one meter from me.”

And there was that blush resurfacing again. “She um, she asked if you were cuter than the corn dog guy.” Alec winced, remembering Magnus’ reaction during that part of the phone call.

Magnus tried his best to hold back his self-satisfied grin as he connected the question to Alexander’s answer. “Well, it’s very handy to know where I rank,” Magnus flirted. If he was cuter than a guy Alexander had made out with in high school, maybe he wanted to make out with Magnus today. He licked at his lips and grinned when he watched Alec take the bate and glance down at his cherry glossed lips. “Now how about that funnel cake?”

Alec admitted that he really did want to make sure Magnus was okay, so getting something to eat was probably a good idea anyway. But Alec didn’t want Magnus to be out of his sight and Magnus wasn’t in any rush to leave his side anyway, so they walked the short distance to the line for the funnel cakes. Magnus insisted on paying as a thank you to Alec for coming to his rescue. Funnel cake in hand, they found an empty table and sat next to each other to make sharing the large dessert easier.

After swallowing a bite, Magnus set down his fork and looked over toward Alec. “So how did you know how to help me?”

Alec fiddled with a thin leather strap wrapped around his wrist. This never really got easier to talk about. “My little brother. He was, uh, he was abducted a few years ago. The police caught the guy and rescued him within a couple days, but now he has panic attacks triggered by some seemingly random things. We’ve learned over the years how to manage them. Most of the time anyway.” Alec set down his own fork and finally lifted his eyes to Magnus. “Can I ask about yours?”

“I almost drowned when I was very young,” Magnus explained quietly. He appreciated how gentle Alexander was being through all of this and that he had just shared something so personal of his own. “The annoying thing is that I know how to swim now. But no matter how much I explain that to my body, even when I’m not even in the bloody water, sometimes it just does not want to cooperate.”

“That sucks,” Alec replied, feeling a bit lame that he couldn’t come up with any better response. “I know Max gets frustrated a lot by his reactions too.” They both went silent and Alec awkwardly shoved more of the dessert in his mouth. It was one thing to act in the moment to fix the physical dilemma, it was quite another to connect on the internal battle. Just as he swallowed his bite and opened his mouth, still not quite sure what else to say, he caught the familiar sight of his siblings out of the corner of his eye further down and moving in his direction. They hadn’t spotted him yet, but it was only a matter of time. As much as he wanted to spend more time with Magnus, Max and especially Izzy might be a bit too overwhelming for him right now. So what he said was, “I should go.”

Magnus’ face fell. He knew he shouldn’t have said anything. It was too much for someone he had just met. But Alexander had asked. He thought that had been a good sign, but maybe Alexander just wanted to know how heavy it was before investing any further time, even if he did think Magnus was more attractive than some random guy he made out with in high school. “Oh,” he mumbled. “Okay.”

Alec immediately realized how his abruptness had been interpreted by Magnus. Izzy and Max were still a ways off and he had to make this right quickly. “No, Magnus. Not like that. I just need to get back to my siblings. But I’d really like to talk to you again. Could I maybe give you my number?”

Alec sighed in relief as he watched Magnus perk right back up and hand over his phone. He typed in his number quickly as he tried to discreetly keep an eye on his sibling’s progress. They would see him any moment now. But shit, he couldn’t just leave Magnus by himself. “Your friends,” he blurted out. “Can you get back to them okay?”

“Yes,” Magnus answered. “They texted that they were just up that way.” Magnus pointed off in the distance. “It’s okay, go back to your siblings. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Alec replied, grateful that Magnus really did seem fine and that the direction Magnus had indicated was the opposite direction of Izzy and Max and the dunk tank. He stood up just as Izzy caught sight of him and smiled that cheeky grin he knew meant nothing good. He took one last glance at Magnus. “You’ll text me?”

“Just try to stop me,” Magnus teased as he winked at the man he had every intention of getting to know as much as possible. “Goodbye, Alexander.”

Alec smiled back. Magnus winking at him did weird things to his stomach. He had never felt like this with the corn dog guy, or anyone else for that matter. He really hoped Magnus would text him. He finally tore his eyes away and strode off toward his siblings, making sure to pull them back in the other direction before Izzy could follow through on whatever ideas were already formulating in her head to try to meet Magnus.

“Oh come on, Alec,” Izzy pouted as she tried to wriggle out of Alec’s grasp. “Just let us say hi to your new boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Alec huffed. “We only just m-.” Alec was interrupted by the sound of his phone chirping multiple new messages. He felt they were finally far enough away, so he let go of Izzy and reached for his phone.

~

_ Unknown Number: So glad I met you tonight, Alexander. _

_ Unknown Number: Maybe next time I can do the saving? _

_ Unknown Number: Or if you don’t need saving, maybe a date could suffice? _

~

Alec was so distracted that he failed to catch Izzy peering around his shoulder until she was poking his side. “You sure he’s not your boyfriend,  _ Alexander _ ?” Rather than respond, Alec picked Izzy up, laughing freely when she squealed from the surprise and from Max coming in and tickling her from the other side. Once they were in the parking lot, he pulled out his phone to send off a reply before driving home.

~

_ Alexander: A date sounds perfect. _


End file.
